


Burden

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: BDSM, Drama, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-04-23
Updated: 2002-04-23
Packaged: 2017-11-01 10:31:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/355637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark needs a way to lay his burden down. Lex knows how to help. Set two years in the future--Clark is just beginning to live his superdestiny, and he's finding the responsibilities a bit overwhelming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burden

## Burden

by Jen K.

[]()

* * *

Disclaimer: In a perfect world, they'd do this every day, and I'd never get tired of watching. Things being as they are, I don't own them, I didn't make them up, and no copyright infringement is intended. 

Author's notes: Thanks to the lovely Buffistas over at the Pansexual Prettyboy Orgy for their unceasing encouragement. Special thanks to Emily & Kate for the fantastic betas. 

**BURDEN**

"Lex, I swear. I have no idea what that stuff is doing here because we've never kept any horses." 

Lex looked bemused. "What kind of farm doesn't have horses? And if there aren't any horses, why does your father have this?" He looked down pointedly at the old bridle in his hands and worried the metal bit back and forth across his palm. Looped his fingers into the metal hoops and tugged. 

"I don't know. Maybe my grandfather had a horse." Clark arranged his feature into a haughty mask and affected an upper-crust accent. "I'll have you know that we modern Kents prefer cows." 

Lex laughed. "I'm not sure that's anything to be proud of, Clark. At least horses are useful." 

"Cows are useful!" Clark looked honestly offended. "They pull things, they're good to eat, and their skin helped make those fancy shoes you're wearing." 

Lex stepped back and raised both hands in mock surrender. "OK, Clark, OK. My apologies. I didn't mean to question the worth of your bovine friends." 

Clark laughed and raked one hand through his hair. "Sorry. And cows aren't friends, Lex. They're just..." 

"What, convenient? Now you sound like me," and he instantly regretted his choice of phrase because Clark's sunny face collapsed in an avalanche of distrust and he turned his back. 

Lex let the bridle drop and closed the distance between them in two steps to grip Clark's shoulder and pull him back around. Clark didn't budge. 

"Clark, please, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way." 

Clark shook off Lex's hand and turned to face him. "No, I think you did. Every time I think that you're here because you actually like me, you find some way to remind me that people are just conveniences to you, that you use them. Victoria was a convenience, a way to get what you wanted. Well, how can you use me this time?" 

Oh. Lord. Could the boy really be that innocent? Lex couldn't supress a delicious thrill at the idea, but briefly, because... He knew he should apologize, reassure Clark that people like Victoria were different. Necessary casualties of business, but not friends. In a rankling instance of perfect irony, Clark himself was Lex's only actual friend and spectacularly inconvenient most of the time because Lex wanted--well. So much more, and had since the first moment his eyes had opened on that riverbank. 

He should try to smooth this over, but... He gritted his teeth. Clark could be so goddamned sanctimonious sometimes and Lex really wanted to prove that not everything in the world could be categorized as good or bad. If Clark was really going to live in this world, he needed to understand that there was a place for the ambiguous in his life. A place for... Yes. It was long past time for this conversation. 

"You really do think you're perfect, don't you?" 

And the ice in Lex's voice made Clark look up wide-eyed. 

"At first I thought this whole 'good and innocent farmboy' thing must be an act--maybe a way for you to win over Lana. But now I realize that you're not acting at all. You really do believe that you know all the answers and you don't hesitate to point fingers when the way others live doesn't fit in with your own personal moral code." 

Clark was backing away, shaking his head, and Lex gambled that he could push a tiny bit more. He leaned casually against the nearest support pole and crossed his arms over his chest. 

"So tell me, Clark, because clearly I have much to learn. How should I live, interact with my business associates, and treat my friends?" 

Clark just gaped at him. 

Lex gentled his voice and put a hand out. A peace offering. "Clark, you can't tell people how to live their lives. If you want them to change their behavior, that's the worst way to go about it. Especially when they're only making a badly-timed joke." 

Clark sagged against the wall of the barn. "No, Lex, I didn't mean... It's just... Fuck! It's too hard." He sounded broken. "I can't even tell you what I'm talking about and it's too much and I can't do it anymore." 

Lex furrowed his brow. "Clark, are we talking about the same thing here?" 

"It's just so easy to hurt people, even if you're being careful. Even if you're just..." 

"Just what?" 

"Normal." It came out in a rush. "It's easy to hurt people even if you're normal. And I have to tell people... I have to. Just that hurting people isn't right." 

There was a logic to that last part that Lex couldn't argue with, but... 

"Is that what this is about? You want everyone to be nice to each other? No, Clark, it's not OK to hurt people, but sometimes... Things happen. People bring horrible things down on their own heads. You can't take responsibility for the well-being of everyone in the world." 

Clark jerked his head back in surprise at Lex's last sentence and Lex knew he'd touched a raw nerve. 

"But you do, don't you? You feel like it's your duty." 

Lex saw raw terror in the twist of Clark's mouth. "No!" 

Lex balled his fists in frustration and fought the urge to grab Clark by the shoulders and shake him. Couldn't not shout. "God, Clark, what have I done to make you so afraid of me?" 

"Nothing!" And Clark flinched at the sound of his own shout and turned his head away like he'd been slapped. 

Lex took a deep breath and made an effort to keep his voice down, went to Clark and brought one hand up to cup his face. He allowed himself a second to savor the sweet push of Clark's face against his palm before beginning again. 

"Why won't you tell me what it is? I'm your friend, and I think that after two years I've proven worthy of your trust. Most 17-year-old boys worry about getting a car and a girlfriend. Passing final exams, and where the party is after graduation. You worry about saving the world." Lex chuckled in spite of himself. "It would be an insufferably pompous martyr complex coming from anyone else." 

His thumb stroked Clark's cheek once, twice, until he felt the clenched jaw give way. Better. He stepped closer and when Clark let his forehead rest on Lex's shoulder, Lex struggled to clamp down on the shudder of heat that coursed through his body. God damn the boy for being so easy with him, for the way he let Lex get so close, for... For everything. 

Clark spoke in a whisper. "I'm not afraid of you, Lex," and that made Lex tighten his gut. Clark's arm came up to rest lightly on Lex's back. "But there is something, and I can't tell you what. Please... Just don't push this, OK? Because I just--can't. I'll have to walk away." 

He lifted his head to look Lex right in the eye and tightened his grip on Lex's back. "I can't walk away from you. Can't we just have... This. Without knowing everything?" 

This was impossible. There was no way Clark could be talking about... Exactly what Lex wanted to hear. Lex brought his other hand up to Clark's face. Steeled himself for Clark's eventual, painfully kind denial and asked, "What do we have, Clark? What is 'this'?" 

Clark looked at him almost sadly. "You know. You've always known." 

"Say it." 

"Lex--" 

Lex fisted his hands in the front of Clark's shirt. "Damn it, Clark! Say the fucking words for once!" He was too close to losing it and maybe Clark saw that, because his answer was steady and gentle and his eyes were kind. 

"I want you." 

Lex concentrated on unwinding his hands from Clark's shirt and backing away until his back bumped against the support post. Three little words that brought the sky down on him and by everything that was holy Lex would not let Clark see him shaking. The conversation was now completely out of his control and that was not at all... "OK," he said, mostly to himself. "OK." 

"No, it's not OK. I want... Us." Clark took a deep breath and Lex knew how strange it could be to hear that out loud for the first time. "But I can't tell you what you want to know. Maybe ever. And I know how shitty that sounds, but I need you just to--" Clark looked up wildly, as if the right words might fall on him from the rafters. "All I can say is that I'm different." 

Lex laughed around the urge, like a punch to the mouth, to kiss him. "Tell it to the roof of my Porsche. I think it might still need some clarification about how different you are." 

Clark made a pained noise. "Lex. I'm being serious. Things depend on me. I'm... needed. And I can't tell you any more than that." 

Lex scrubbed at his face with both hands. "Jesus, Clark, you can't do this to me. I have so many questions. Are you saying you have some sort of divine mandate? Do you have any idea--" And at the look in Clark's eyes he shut his mouth with an audible click. Clark was begging him with that lower lip caught and worried between his teeth, desperate for relief from something Lex couldn't name. Desperate for quiet, for a break from interrogation... For Lex to just shut the fuck up. 

So Lex did. Opened his arms and Clark came into them without hesitation, buried his face in the crook of Lex's neck and sobbed. Big, bright, open tears, guileless like the rest of him. Lex stroked his back through the shudders and hitched breaths, murmuring nonsense in Clark's ear while cursing himself ceaselessly for pushing so hard, for still wanting to know everything, for the knot of lust in his gut that couldn't be unwound, even by Clark's obvious pain. 

When Clark had cried himself out, he slid to the dusty barn floor in a graceless sprawl, no relief in his face. 

"Even crying doesn't work anymore. I used to be able to make it go away for a while but now... It's always there. Every second of every day there's something I could be doing better, someone I could be... And every time I make a decision, I can't stop thinking about the things I didn't do instead. And I'm just one person and I feel like I don't know anything. Maybe every time I try to do the right thing, it's really a horrible mistake, and... Lex, do you ever wonder about how animals feel? When they're working?" Clark's eyes were suddenly piercing and Lex didn't think it was possible to understand this conversation any less. Gave up trying to piece it together and just answered the question. 

"Truthfully, Clark, I hadn't given it any thought at all." 

Clark's gaze wandered over the bridle. "I wonder about it every time I'm in the barn. If they feel burdened, or if they feel... free. Because their decisions are made for them and they don't have to know that people depend on them. They just have to do what they're told." 

Lex sat down next to Clark. "I don't think they're smart enough to know the difference. Only humans can really appreciate the distinction between doing something out of free will and abdicating that free will to someone else. The end result, the action performed, is the same. Only we care about the means." 

Clark looked thoughtful. "It's really an important difference." 

"I agree. When I was in college we talked a lot about this in my-- Jesus Christ, this is absurd!" Lex moved around to kneel in front of Clark. "You want me." Didn't even try to hide the raw relief in his voice. 

Clark offered a sweet, crooked smile. "Yes." And then it was gone. "But I understand if you can't-- Because of the things I can't say." 

Lex reached out and took Clark's hand, laced their fingers together and squeezed gently. "It's OK. I don't need to know anything more than you can tell me." Bitter lie that hung like bile in his throat, but he wasn't going to get anywhere with that tonight. Wished he could promise Clark out loud that he'd never push again, but... 

He turned Clark's hand over and traced the lines of his palm with one finger. "Clark, do you want--? I've been waiting, and I can wait as long as you need, but... I want to kiss you." 

Clark sucked in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. "Please." 

Lex drew Clark up onto his knees and into the circle of his arms. Pressed one chaste kiss to Clark's closed lips before drawing back to look. Clark was breathing harder but the look in his eyes was steady, and this time it was his movement that brought their lips together again. 

Lex teased his tongue along the curves of Clark's lips and used it to open Clark's mouth. Heat coming out in waves and he flicked his tongue in briefly and Clark's hands were tightening convulsively on his hips. Lex pulled back to breathe and gasp and Clark's eyes were dark. Lex fisted both hands into Clark's hair and pulled his head back, exposing the column of his throat. Dropped a series of open-mouthed kisses down the curve of Clark's jaw and Clark's breathy pants broke open into a full-throated moan when Lex took a deep suckle at the crook of his neck. 

"Oh my god, Lex, I didn't know--" and he broke off with a gasp when Lex cupped his ass in both hands and brought their hips together so Clark could feel exactly how much he wanted this. Licked a line up along the pulse to Clark's ear and bit his earlobe hard, gratified to feel the shove of Clark's hips against his own. Clark's harsh breathing like a goad. 

"Oh, Clark, I'll make this so good for you. I'm going to show you everything." Loved the shiver of skin under his fingers as he dragged his hands up Clark's abdomen to press against his chest. 

Clark arched into his hands and Lex could feel the hard sparks of nipples pressing against his palms. "Yes, yes, please," and Clark was whimpering and rocking against Lex a little desperately and his hands were uncomfortably tight now on Lex's hips. 

Lex pulled back a little and used one hand to trace soothing patterns onto Clark's back. "Shh, Clark, shhh. We have plenty of time. I'll make it all OK." 

And Clark froze. Let his hands drop away but didn't try to move out of Lex's embrace. 

"Clark? Clark, what's the matter?" 

"Can you? Make it OK?" The combination of raw despair and defiant hope brought a lump to Lex's throat. 

"Not everything." He pulled Clark's forehead down to kiss it tenderly. "But I can make this better than OK, if you want. If you still want this." 

A slight pause, and then-- 

"Make me." 

Sheer, slackjawed shock on Lex's face. 

"What?" 

"I'll do anything. I want to do everything. Just... Make me not care about the means. Make me feel free." 

"Clark, I don't understand. What are you asking me to do? Make you forget about your will, like the animals you were--" Lex lurched to his feet as the realization of what Clark was asking him to do hit him like an electric shock. One solid strike of lust as he pictured Clark on his hands and knees in the dusty barn, ridden until the sweat lathered all over him and the sweet bite of the bit in his mouth was pure release. 

Clark nodded mutely. God, he needed. Needed Lex to tighten the reins, pull back on the bit, just drag him to the ground and. 

Lex tightened his fists against the hot crash of arousal and let entitlement out to play, let it roil warm and delicious through his limbs and settle in his belly. He could do this, yes. He could do this because Clark was his. 

"Stand up. Now." 

Clark scrambled to his feet and stood like a guilty schoolboy--head down, arms at his sides, his erection clearly outlined beneath his pants and shirt. Lex reached out with one hand to cup Clark somewhat less than gently, feeling the strain and jerk of it beneath his palm. Gritted his teeth against the pure sex of Clark's wanton thrust into his hand. 

"Look at me. I'm only going to ask this once." Brought his other hand up to grip Clark's chin, keep him in place. 

"If you tell me you want this, I'm not going to stop at touching you through your clothes. I'm going to put that bit in your mouth fuck you very, very hard." His voice cracked on the last word and he took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you understand me?" 

Clark was breathing hard through his nose and his hand shook when he reached down to lace his fingers through Lex's. Squeezed himself with Lex's hand and choked out, "Please." 

And Lex was back to his knees in an instant, fingers tearing at the button and zipper of Clark's jeans, pushing the denim down to Clark's knees and leaning in to inhale the scent of Clark beneath, warm and thrumming with blood. Smelled like power and dirt and Lex was mouthing at the bulge of Clark's boxers, tasting the humid pearl under the cotton and flowery laundry detergent. Clark tasted like cornfields through the open windows of a fast car, the whipsurge of ozone after a summer storm. 

"Lex! Oh god ohgodohgod---" and Clark's knees were buckling. Lex's hands working up his thighs while he kissed Clark's cock, gripping and releasing, sliding around the back of his legs to palm his ass and pull him closer. Nowhere for Clark to put his hands but the sleek curve of Lex's skull and he cried out like a child when Lex's nimble fingers slipped under his boxers and wrapped around him. 

One stroke, two, and Clark was twisting helplessly in Lex's hand, thrusting into the hot hollow of palm. Lex's cheek still pressed to his hip, one hand still gripping his ass through his boxers and guiding him. Through half-closed eyes Clark saw the tip of Lex's tongue emerge and retreat between wet lips, suggestive and obscene, and it encompassed the width and breadth of everything Clark wanted in the world right that moment. 

"Take your shirt off, Clark." Lex's voice was low and rough against the taut skin of Clark's stomach and his breath sent a shudder up Clark's body from hip to crown. Clark raised his arms like he was moving under water and tried to work the buttons of his flannel but it was useless because Lex's tongue was painting intricate patterns all over the head of his cock and Clark couldn't stop rolling his hips into it. 

"Lex god gonna--" and the very next second Lex pushed his boxers aside and went down on him with one deep wet suck that struck Clark dumb. 

Clark had never put much stock in the idea of out-of-body experiences, but now he understood the sensation intimately because he couldn't feel his boots touch the floor anymore and he was a kite flying at an enormous altitude, connected to the earth by nothing but the slick tether of Lex's mouth. 

Then Lex dipped his mouth down further and Clark came slamming back into his body with no breath left, slammed into the realization that he was thrusting his hips hard and heedlessly, working himself down into the hot grip of Lex's throat. Ground out "Too good I can't help it--" but Lex urged him on with a low hum, slipping one finger behind his balls to stroke the smooth skin there and Clark was sure he'd never heard anything as beautiful as Lex's groan of encouragement when he threw back his head and came in shuddering, reckless pulses. 

Lex drew back and wiped his mouth with the back of one hand, doing nothing to hide his satisfied smile. Guided a quaking Clark back to his knees and kissed him deeply, sucking Clark's tongue out of his mouth and tangling it with his own, loving the convulsive clench of Clark's hands on his shoulders as he tasted himself all over Lex's mouth. 

Clark pulled back first, panting. "Lex, Jesus. That was..." Clark groped for Lex's hand and brought it to his heart, knowing it was the single most foolishly revealing thing he'd ever done and not caring in the slightest. "Thank you." 

Lex walked his fingers up to the top button of Clark's shirt and let them dip inside, tracing the slope of his collarbones as they met in the shallow hollow of his throat. Clark shivered. 

"You're welcome. But understand that I'm not even close to done with you." He gave Clark's flannel collar a little tug. "Didn't I tell you to take this off?" 

Finally, finally, there was the blush. "I couldn't make my fingers work." 

Lex undid two buttons and placed a wet, open-mouthed kiss on Clark's sternum. "And now? Is everything operational?" 

Clark closed his eyes and leaned in to Lex's mouth. "Uh, maybe--maybe not anymore." 

Lex sat back cross-legged and steepled his fingers in front of him. "Well, don't let me distract you." Looked pointedly from Clark's hands to his shirt and back again. "And Clark? Don't stop with the shirt." 

Clark got the hint, and oh, Lex could learn to love this. Pure voyeuristic pleasure to watch Clark stand up, watch his trembling fingers undo buttons to reveal his broad chest, watch the way he shucked his boots and jeans. Yes, Lex could learn to love the sprawl of Clark Kent's naked body before him. For him. 

"Lex?" 

"Yes?" Took his lazy time sweeping his glance up from Clark's body to his face. 

"You're, ah, looking at me. Sort of like--" 

"Like I want to fuck you?" 

"Oh god." Visible jolt and Lex hoped Clark was picturing the whole thing in his mind. 

"Can you imagine it, Clark? Because I can. I can imagine how free you're going to feel when I take you. How your voice will sound when you come." 

While Lex spoke he stood and pulled his shirt off, let it fall into the dust. Stepped out of his shoes and socks and stood with one hand poised to open the button on his slacks. 

"For the last time. Are you sure?" 

Clark grinned over the open lust that rode his features. "And you said you were only going to ask once. We've been operating under false pretenses here, haven't we?" 

Lex did his best to look stern around the delightful shock of Clark teasing him. "This is no time to develop an attitude, young man." 

"Is it time to develop the urge to see you completely naked?" 

Lex's mouth was suddenly too dry. "Jesus, Clark. Come here." Let his pants drop to the floor as Clark moved towards him. 

And it was so easy to take Clark in his arms and turn him around so they stood spooned together. Even easier for Lex to caress the broad shoulders, let his fingers linger on the smooth skin stretched over Clark's hipbones, slide wet kisses down Clark's jaw and glory at the hitch and buck of his hips. Easiest still, like breathing, to start a slow, gentle rhythm flush against the roundest part of Clark's ass. 

For Clark, everything was hard. His own cock, the taut column of muscle and smooth skin behind him that was Lex, the effort of breath as Lex's lips closed over his earlobe and bit down. He'd never begged for anything in his life, but he was begging now, a steady murmur of "please Lex oh please" under his breath as Lex's hands crept up his chest to feather over his nipples, slide them between smooth fingers. 

Clark rolled between the slow, delicious thrust of Lex's cock against him and the quick pinch of fingers at his nipples. Moaned as Lex pressed against him once with more force and whispered in his ear, "Oh, Clark, you're amazing. So beautiful, so beautiful like this--" 

Lex slid down the length of Clark's body, hands following his lips as they worked down Clark's spine. Let his tongue slip for the barest flicker into the cleft of his ass. Clark hissed and jerked under his hands and Lex was suddenly, breathlessly fighting for the control to do this right, do it the way Clark needed. He rocked his forehead against the small of Clark's back and bit his lip, peeled his fingers off Clark's waist and groped blindly for the bridle. Found it and dragged it up the side of Clark's sweat-slick body as he stood again. 

"Gonna do this, Clark, gonna put it in your mouth and fuck you hard--" and Clark threw his head back against Lex's shoulder and moaned. 

"Please, do it, help me--" and then the cool metal of the bit was on his tongue and the taste of iron and dirt bloomed in his mouth and Lex was guiding him to his hands and knees with worn leather reins. 

On the ground now and Clark's fingers were trawling the dust for something to grip and he rocked with a sudden sense memory of the last time he'd begged Lex to help him. Just another thing he needed to lose, and he was grateful for the tug of the reins that kept him steady, kept his head back and arms straight. Grateful for the happy bite in the corners of his mouth, the sharp slap of the leather reins against his back, and it was exactly what he expected. Needed. He needed to let Lex do everything. Including. 

This. This molten current of heat between his legs, spread open with Lex's tongue laving the puckered hole, making everything so wet that Clark was blind with his eyes wide open, gasping and pushing himself back without a spare thought for shame. All of him rocked by it, broken open and suspended in the thunder of his own pulse, the counterpoint of Lex's hand pulling the reins tight, and the maddening, beautiful pressure of Lex's tongue. 

Two of Lex's fingers at his lips now, gentle pressure, and Lex urged him on. "Come on, Clark, get them wet for me--" and Clark was drooling a little around the bit and Lex's fingers tasted like dust and leather. Clark rolled his tongue around the tips of Lex's fingers, flattened his tongue against them and sucked. The jerk Lex gave the reins was unscripted. "Oh god, beautiful mouth, made for it--" and the fingers were gone too soon. 

Lex allowed himself one light, teasing circle around Clark's hole. Couldn't make Clark wait for this, couldn't wait himself. His eyes went wide with the grip of it as he slid two fingers in and up and up and Clark was pushing back hard against every thrust and Lex remembered exactly what it was like to be fucked for the first time. Three more solid thrusts that made Clark shake and Lex let his fingers slip out slowly, flattened the length of his body against Clark's and used the reins to pull Clark's head up so his ear was at Lex's mouth. One quick roll of his hips to remind Clark just exactly what was going to happen next and a whisper. 

"It's time. Lean forward on your elbows, let me see you," and Clark was there for him, spread out for him like the world's most obscene ritual sacrifice, thighs open and trembling, back heaving with need. Gripping the reins tighter in one hand, Lex brought the tip of his cock level with Clark's hole and pushed. Slow, lazy fall into Clark and if Hell was this hot, this ubiquitous, Lex would gladly cede his soul for the chance to be damned again and again. He let his head drop forward onto Clark's back and held himself still. In Clark. In. 

Clark tossed his head back and forth and there was nothing but a strangled groan from deep in his chest when Lex began to thrust. Pulled back all the way and then in deep, so slowly, fighting the cries that rose in his own throat. In and out again, again, again, each time a little rougher, each sharp inhalation louder than the one before. 

Clark was with him completely now, balancing on one hand and reaching back with the other to grip Lex's hip and pull him in. 

Lex hissed into Clark's ear. "You want me to fuck you harder." It wasn't a question but Clark made a desperate noise of assent and pushed back hard to meet Lex's next thrust. 

Lex used the reins to haul Clark up to his knees and flat against him. Wrapped his free arm around Clark's chest, held him tight, and lost himself in the rhythm of fucking--the primal binary of advance and retreat, bury and discover, own and own and own. 

Clark arched his back and shouted at the first brush of Lex's fingers up and down the length of his cock, thumb swiping the head, and he could hear Lex panting in his ear. "Gonna make you come," and Lex made a tight fist around Clark's cock and jacked it hard, fast, just the way Clark needed it, licking the sweat off his throat and biting his shoulder. 

"Come for me, now, come with me--" Lex thrust one last time, tore the bridle out of Clark's mouth and hurled it into a dark corner as his body shook with the force of his release. 

Clark was free of everything now, his whole world winnowed down to the feel of Lex coming with long shudders inside him, the slide of Lex's delicate hand on his cock, hot breath against the back of his neck as Lex chanted his name like a holy word and brought him up and up. 

Clark squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped one hand around Lex's moving fist, adding his own heft to the strokes, each one better than the last. Lex made a motion behind him, as if to withdraw, but Clark shook his head. 

"Stay." 

The air in the barn was thick with the scent of hay and sweat. Clark leaned back and felt Lex's body take his full weight as he let go. 


End file.
